Aftermath
by AmyVS7
Summary: Following Merrick's not guilty verdict...How Alesha copes and can Matt help her? Matt/Alesha.
1. Chapter 1

Law and Order: UK fic

Pairing: Matt/Alesha

Disclaimer: Don't own anything

Summary: Following Merrick's not guilty verdict, how Alesha copes and can Matt help her? Matt/Alesha.

(Yep Merrick was eventually convicted ... quite right too! ... but this slots in after his first trial, even though they didn't show his 2nd trial lol oh you all know what I mean) Anyway, enjoy!

**Aftermath**

Matt was sitting in the stands, next to Alesha, listening to Merrick's side of the story on Alesha's case. He felt very uncomfortable, listening to this man lying through his teeth. Matt wanted this man brought to justice more than any other man he had come into close contact with recently, if ever, in his career; but Matt trusted James Steel and the rest of the CPS to do that, he couldn't do it himself. Matt glanced at Alesha sitting next to him, she seemed distressed and Matt couldn't blame her. He wanted more than anything to put his arm around her, or to even take hold of her hand, to try and comfort her, try to make things better. But he knew he couldn't. The damage had already been done.

The jury's verdict was heard, and the two words "Not guilty" echoed throughout the courtroom. Matt inwardly groaned and turned to look at Alesha, who now had tears in her eyes. It was not much of a surprise that within seconds Alesha stood up and rushed out of the courtroom. No one tried to stop her.

George tried to get up to follow her, but Matt was much quicker "I'll go to her." He left the viewing stands and rushed out of the courtroom doors. Alesha had moved a few hundred yards from the door and Matt cried out "Alesha!" as he ran up to her.

She turned around and could not compose herself any longer as she burst into tears. Matt ran up and hugged her with all his might, Alesha wrapped her arms around him and cried strongly into his suit jacket.

"How could he do it, Matt?" Alesha cried, although muffled, through his jacket "How could he hurt me so much and get away with it, it's not fair!"

"Shh" Matt said, soothingly "I know, babe, I know. Don't cry, shh, I'm here" he rubbed her back and rocked her slightly in his arms.

James and George had been watching them from quite a few feet away. James looked utterly dejected and sorrowful that he had not been able to get the verdict that they had all hoped for.

"The poor girl" George said, sadly "What do we do now?"

"I don't know, I don't know what else we can do." James gave a sigh as he watched Alesha still being comforted by Matt. "There must be another way? We can't let Merrick get away with this."

"I'm sorry James, but if we don't come up with something then that's it, we can't do anymore." George took his phone out of his jacket pocket "Better ring Ronnie, let him know the verdict. I'll see you back at the office?"

"Yeah sure, I'll be there in a bit" and George left in the opposite direction, whilst James headed towards Matt and Alesha.

Matt had seen James approaching from the corner of his eye, and reluctantly brought Alesha out of the embrace, although he kept one arm around her.

"Hey" James said softly "Alesha, I'm so sorry I..."

"Don't worry James" Alesha told him, rubbing the smudged mascara from under her eyes "You did your best, thank-you for what you did in there."

"Listen, I can't change the jury's verdict, but we'll get him. I don't know how, but all of us, together, we will find a way."

"James is right" Matt said, rubbing Alesha's arm "We won't give up on this."

Alesha gave a minute smile, so tiny that it was barely visible. Her hands were shaking and she looked drained. Not at all like the Alesha everyone knew and loved.

"Alesha, why don't I take you home, yeah?" Matt offered, gently "You need some rest."

"Go on" James gave her an encouraging smile "And I'll see you when you feel up to coming back into work."

Alesha sighed and rubbed her head "Okay."

James watched Matt walk Alesha out of the Old Bailey and get into a cab, before he headed to the Robing Room to get changed.

...

Matt paid the cab and got Alesha into her flat. It was a spacious flat, full of books and decorated in a rustic, homely theme. It looked so inviting and friendly, matching Alesha's personality perfectly.

"Matt, I'm just going to get changed" Alesha announced.

"Okay, well how about I make you something to eat?"

Alesha shook her head "I'm not that hungry, plus I've got hardly anything in."

Matt came over to her, looking worried "Alesha, you've got to eat something. How about I go and get you a takeaway?"

"Don't you mean 'us'?" Alesha wondered, sadly "Aren't you going to stay?"

"Only if you want me to?"

"Please" Alesha almost begged "If you don't mind?"

"Course not" he gave her a comforting smile "I'll stay for as long as you want me to."

Alesha gave an appreciative smile "Thank-you. So, chinese?"

"You read my mind" Matt chuckled "I'll be back soon."

Alesha took a quick shower and dried herself, leaving her hair down, she threw on some jeans and a purple jumper. All done in time before Matt knocked on the front door.

"Hey" Alesha said on Matt's return, before her heart melted when she saw that Matt was holding a bouquet of pink and white roses.

"For you" he handed them to her with a grin, Alesha took them with a smile that Matt had not seen for ages.

"Oh Matt, you really didn't have to buy me flowers! But thank-you they're lovely" she kissed his cheek as a sign of gratitude.

"You're welcome. And I have chinese and a bottle of wine."

"How do you know what chinese food I like?" Alesha asked, questionably.

"I got a bit of a selection" he grinned "Come on let's dig in, I'm starving."

Alesha giggled as a thought occured to her "Bet Ronnie would go mad if he saw us having chinese without him?"

Matt eyes went slightly wide "Oh heck, Ronnie!" he reached frantically for his phone in his suit pocket "I'm supposed to be back at work!"

"Matt!" Alesha reprimanded him "You should go, you should be there, not here with me."

"No it's okay, I'll sort it out."

Ronnie's mobile rang and he answered it "Matty?"

"Hey Ron, I'm sorry, I should have called earlier."

"Let me guess, you're with Alesha?"

"Yeah...I'm sorry mate; I forgot to let you know how it all went."

"It's okay, George called me. And don't worry, the Gov and I understand, you stay with Alesha. You look after her Matt; she needs all the support she can get."

"I know, I will I promise. I'll see you tomorrow."

"See ya, son. Give Alesha our love."

"Will do, bye."

Matt turned back to Alesha who had spread the takeaway trays over the dining table "Everything alright?"

"Yeah, they don't need me back there tonight, and the Gov and Ronnie send their love."

Alesha gave a small smile, before grabbing hold of some chopsticks, handing some to Matt.

They both ate their chinese takeaway in almost complete silence, hardly saying that much to eachother. Matt was very wary of raising the subject of Merrick. He didn't want to upset Alesha further, and so stayed quiet, thinking Alesha may make the first move and talk about it. But she didn't. Once they had finished dinner, they sat on the sofa, each with their glass of wine, and watched the TV.

"You should have gone to Blockbusters on your way back here, could've watched a decent film" Alesha commented as she flicked through the channels, but to no avail. "There is nothing on."

"You'd only moan if I picked the wrong film" Matt said, cheekily.

"Good point" Alesha gave a small smile.

"Plus I didn't think I'd still be here" Matt glanced at the clock on the mantelpiece. 7:20pm.

"It isn't late, Matt" Alesha frowned, briefly following Matt's gaze.

"I know, but I assumed I'd be here to drop you off, then I'd be heading back to work."

Alesha traced the rim of her wine glass with her fingers "You still can if you want? You don't have to stay on my account."

"I couldn't do that. After what's happened..." Matt gave a pause, as he put his now empty wine glass on the coffee table, before looking back at Alesha's expectant face "I want to make sure you're okay."

"I'm fine" Alesha said, unconvincingly "Just...it's been tough...I don't know how I've got through it."

"Me neither" Matt admitted "You're so amazing. I don't know how you've coped, but somehow you have." He smiled at her "And d'ya know something, I am _so_ proud of you."

"Matt, I only made things worse; it was because of me that Merrick walked free."

"But you spoke out" Matt stressed the importance of this "Alesha, sweetheart, you had the courage and the spirit to speak to someone, you weren't afraid to do that. It shows you've got guts. And it illustrates just how strong you are, and _that's_ why I'm proud of you. You refused to give up even when it looked like we didn't have a case."

"But we still lost" Alesha replied, sadly.

"I know, but we'll figure something out" he tried to make her smile again "Don't we always, all six of us, the dream team."

Matt succeeded in his attempt to cheer her up, as Alesha giggled "The dream team? I think you've drunk too much wine, mister."

"Nah, I'm alright. As part of the dream team I am infallible against drunkenness."

Alesha laughed as she put her wine glass on the coffee table "Try telling that to Natalie after your incident last month."

"Hey, I was _not _drunk when I came in that Monday morning ... just ... possibly ... the night before."

Alesha shook her head and laughed, Matt couldn't help but laugh along with her.

"Thanks for this Matt" Alesha said, truthfully "You've helped me to laugh again, to be myself ..." she gazed at him lovingly "And most importantly you've looked after me when no one else has."

"I'll always look after you, Alesha. Whenever, wherever, I'll be there" he smiled before opening his arms, letting Alesha snuggle up to him. Matt stroked her hair, and kissed the side of her head. Whilst Alesha lay her head in the crook of his neck, feeling him slowly breathe in and out. Silence fell between the pair of them; they stayed in this position for ages, not saying anything. Nothing needed to be said, their actions spoke volumes.

After almost half an hour, Matt felt Alesha's breathing become steady, and he looked down to realise she had fallen asleep. Matt managed to reach the remote without moving too much, he switched off the TV and put the remote back down. Before kissing the top of Alesha's head and moving her so he could pick her up in his arms. She awoke for a millisecond, but instantly fell back to sleep, comfortably knowing that Matt was just moving her to her bedroom.

Matt located Alesha's bedroom and placed her gently on the bed, covering her with a throw. He brushed some hair out of her face and kissed her cheek.

"Night Alesha, sweet dreams" he left the room as quietly as he could, then switched off all the lights and left Alesha's flat to head home. It had been a horrible day for everyone, but it ended on a happy note. Matt was satisfied knowing that Alesha was sleeping peacefully. She was safe, no harm could come to her, and for now she was content in her world of dreams. To Matt, that's all that mattered.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Matt stepped back out onto the London streets, putting his scarf on in the process. The Merrick trial had ended less than an hour ago; justice had been well and truly served. It was all over. But Matt knew it was far from over for Alesha. He knew her life would never be the same again, but Matt was well aware of how strong Alesha could be, she would get through this horrific ordeal. It was just going to take time.

Alesha returned back to her flat, she took off her boots, coat and scarf before pouring herself a rather large glass of red wine. Collapsing on her sofa, she sat there thinking it all through. She didn't cry. Knowing that if she cried, it was like letting Merrick win all over again, and he had done more than enough damage already. James had seen that Merrick got the punishment he deserved. Now it was her turn to do the only thing she could. Move on, or try to anyway.

Alesha put down her glass of wine as she heard her phone go off in her bag, when she found her phone after searching amongst all her paperwork, she discovered a text message from Matt.

_'Hope you're okay. I'm thinking of you, remember I'm here if you need me x'_

Alesha gave a small smile, thinking how sweet it was of Matt to leave her a message. So she returned the favour.

Matt was now back at his own place, hoping Alesha would reply. A smile soon illuminated Matt's face when he received a text message back from Alesha.

'_Thanks for the message, Matt. I'm okay, as well as I can be anyway. Going to get some rest, I'll see you soon. Thanks for everything x'_

A sense of relief flooded over Matt. Knowing Alesha was doing as well as she could be, under the circumstances, made him feel a little more content. This would still not stop Matt worrying about her, but it was all he could do for now.

...

It was the following week, and the team had earlier in the day met up to discuss the case on Nick Bentley. Matt had seen Alesha, and had even managed a quick chat, but Matt wanted to put his mind at rest to make sure Alesha really was okay, so he came up with an idea.

It was now almost the end of the day and Matt knocked on the door of Natalie's office, where she and Ronnie were discussing the Bentley case.

"Hey Gov, do you mind if I leave a bit early?"

"Oh ay, what you up to Matty?" Ronnie inquired, as he stopped leaning against the wall.

"I was ..." he blushed a little "Just going to see how Alesha's doing, treat her to dinner."

Ronnie looked at Natalie with a knowing grin, Natalie had seen this look out of the corner of her eye but pretended like she hadn't, instead she answered Matt "Yeah of course Matt, god knows she needs cheering up after what's happened. Ronnie and I will finish up here."

"Thanks Gov, I really appreciate it" Matt gave her a smile, before looking at his partner "See you tomorrow, Ron."

"See ya, son. You look after her now" he gave a smile, knowing that Matt would always do just that.

As Matt left the room and closed the door, Ronnie sat down in the chair in front of Natalie's desk and said "He's besotted."

It was Natalie's turn to give the knowing smile.

...

"Night guys, see you tomorrow" Alesha said before switching off the light at her desk, and headed downstairs and out of the building, only to come face to face with DS Matt Devlin.

"Alesha! I was just coming to find you" Matt said somewhat breathlessly, clearly having rushed to meet up with her before she left to go home.

"Hiya. Why's that, you got some more information about the Bentley case?"

"No, it's not about that" Matt replied "I was just coming to ask you, if you fancied dinner?"

"Just me and you?" she asked, a little surprised.

"Yeah, if you like ... I'll cook!"

Alesha laughed "You can cook? Really?"

"Don't look so surprised!" Matt laughed too "My culinary skills aren't that bad I'll have you know."

Alesha gave a small laugh before questioning something "Why dinner, Matt? I thought I said earlier, just be the same ... we never have dinner together."

"Uh, correction, we had chinese together last week. And is there anything wrong with someone wanting to cook dinner for a friend?"

Alesha raised her eyebrows at him, Matt crumbled too easily.

"Alright, I just ... want to cheer you up a bit, that's all, I promise. We ate dinner at your place last time, I want to return the favour and treat you to dinner at mine. So what do you say?"

"If you promise you won't give me food poisoning, then yes I'll have dinner with you."

Matt grinned brightly "Come on then" he took her hand gently before shouting "Taxi!"

Matt and Alesha soon arrived at Matt's very upmarket apartment. Upon leading Alesha inside, Matt switched on the lights and watched as Alesha walked into the spacious apartment, consisting of a large open plan living-room, kitchen, diner with large glass windows overlooking the River Thames. The city of London illuminated in lights on this cold evening.

"Wow, this place is great!" complimented Alesha, as she headed to the windows to have a proper look.

"Looks even better in the daylight" Matt said, as a matter of fact, approaching Alesha and offering to take her coat and scarf for her.

"Well I'm not likely to see your place in the daylight am I?" Alesha said cheekily, as she turned away from looking at the windows.

"Oh I don't know, play your cards right" he winked at her, this earned a playful slap on his arm by Alesha, which forced Matt to come up with a quick defence. "No, I didn't meant it like that!" he gave a short laugh "I meant, in the summer, if you come over for dinner again, it will be light at this time."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever Matt, you can't recover from it" she giggled "And you never know I may not _want_ to come back for dinner, depends how tonight goes."

"Well I'll have to try and impress you with my cooking then won't I?" Matt smiled, as he hung up her coat and scarf.

Matt quickly began preparing the smoked salmon and veg, with Alesha watching him with her glass of wine, finding it highly amusing that Matt was cooking all of this by himself and had refused her offer of helping. Once it was all done and put in the oven, they sat down on the sofa and Matt put on some gentle background music.

"Do your girlfriend's get this much treatment when you invite them round?" Alesha inquired, curiously.

"Not really. Only if it was a special occasion."

"Well tonight isn't a special occasion" Alesha stated.

Matt gazed at Alesha in all seriousness "We got the right result in court, we can celebrate the fact that the bastard got what he deserved."

Alesha looked down at her hands, not knowing if she was happy talking about this. Matt sensed this immediately, now regretting bringing it up. "Oh god, Alesha, I'm sorry! I should've known you wouldn't want to talk about it, you want to put it all behind you. I'm such an idiot!"

Alesha looked back up at Matt, taking his hand tentatively. "No you're not an idiot Matt, it's okay."

"No it's not" Matt had to stop himself from raising his voice "I've made a mess of everything, I'm supposed to be cheering you up and now I've gone and made things worse! I'm so sorry Alesha!"

Alesha was surprised to see Matt get this angry with himself, he seemed so stressed. "Hey, hey, come on, stop all this. Come here" Alesha hugged Matt "You don't have to apologise."

"But I want to" Matt began as he and Alesha pulled out of the hug, he looked so desperately concerned "I've been worried _sick_ about you."

Alesha took Matt's hand, feeling so heart warmed by his confession of concern. "You don't have to worry about me anymore."

"I will always worry about you, Alesha" Matt admitted.

Alesha looked surprised "Why?"

"Because..." Matt blushed, thinking how corny and cheesy it sounded "It's you. I ... care about you a lot."

"Matt" Alesha gazed at him intently; Matt looked back at Alesha with as much intense emotion as she showed towards him. Their gaze never breaking contact as their heads moved closer together, their lips were within seconds of contact.

Suddenly the smoke alarm blared throughout the flat, Matt and Alesha's moment lost.

"Oh my god, the food!" Matt leapt up and rushed across the room to the kitchen to see smoke billowing out of the oven. Matt grabbed the oven gloves and took out the ruined food, chucking the tray onto the kitchen counter. Alesha had opened one of the nearby windows and used a discarded newspaper to fan the area by the smoke alarm. It stopped going off within seconds. Alesha came over to the kitchen, Matt taking off his oven gloves and he turned back to his dinner guest.

Alesha looked at the ruined food "I know you were going for _smoked_ salmon Matt, but I think that was a bit _too_ much."

Matt looked at Alesha with raised eyebrows, but Alesha just burst into laughter. Matt couldn't help himself and laughed along with her "Oh god, why did I bother offering to cook, should've known it would've ended in disaster."

Alesha still could not stop laughing "Never mind Matt, at least you tried."

"Suppose" Matt said, as he threw the food in the bin. "Sorry Alesha, looks like dinner won't be happening."

"That's alright" Alesha assured him, finally calming down "I wasn't that hungry anyway."

"I can do us beans on toast?" Matt offered.

"Oh you're all class Mr. Devlin!" Alesha giggled, before raising an eyebrow and saying teasingly "You sure that isn't too technical for you? Do you know how to make toast without burning it?"

Matt raised his eyebrows in amusement and pointed at her "Right you! I'm gunna get you for that!"

Alesha squealed as Matt began chasing her around the massive room, weaving in and out of furniture, until Alesha got worn out and Matt managed to catch her and enveloped her into a big hug.

"You can be so mischievous, Miss Phillips" Matt said softly into her ear.

Alesha giggled and broke out of the hug to look at Matt "We make a good pair then don't we?"

Matt smiled as he also started thinking about something Alesha had said during their conversation earlier in the day:

_Matt: "...nothing funny, i'm not cracking on to you."_

_Alesha: "Why not? ... I'm not broken Matt."_

Alesha was right, she wasn't broken. Yes she had been hurt, but that didn't mean she could never be with anyone else ever again. Matt's brain was quickly brought back to attention as Alesha had put her hand on his arm, but Matt was drawn to Alesha's face; their eyes connected again and before either of them knew who started it, they kissed. It was gentle and tender, but became passionate, so much so that Matt picked Alesha up and they continued kissing on the sofa.

They broke apart for air, both of them smiling. Matt was lost for words, something that very rarely happened, but luckily for him Alesha spoke up.

"So ... where's this beans on toast?" giving Matt a cheeky grin.

"Oh stuff the food!" Matt replied, causing Alesha to giggle before they began kissing again.

...

_Hope you liked this :) I'm going to leave this as the end. Review please :)_


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